England had to see off more than the 11 players from Tunisia in their opening World Cup clash in Volgograd.
Swarms of flies descended on the Volgograd Arena, causing discomfort for the players – who resorted to applying insect repellent in a bid to combat the biting bugs.
Three Lions captain and match-winner Harry Kane said after the 2-1 victory: “We got told before that there was going to be quite a lot of flies and when we went out for the warm-up it was a lot more than we all kind of thought.
“We had a lot of bug spray on before the game, half-time, which was important because there was some of them in your eyes, some of them in your mouth.
“But I guess that’s part of just dealing whatever comes your way and the team coped with it well.”
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